New jobs-agency chief seeks to calm storm

The new CEO of Workforce Central Florida is on her cellphone, rolling down Interstate 95 through North Carolina when the skies let loose.

"Sorry," Pamela Nabors says over the noise of the rain and the road. "We're just going through a storm now."

It's a fitting development for Nabors because the agency she is inheriting knows all about stormy. It has been pilloried in the media, excoriated by the governor and even taunted on National Public Radio.

Nabors, 53, who has been hired to repair the damage, begins work Monday.

"This is my dream job," she says. "I'm very excited by the challenge."

Nabors' new employer entered the public's consciousness last year for all the wrong reasons. It began with an ill-fated publicity campaign involving superhero capes for the unemployed and unraveled from there.

In a series of reports, the Orlando Sentinel revealed lucrative contracts to board members, questionable counting of job placements, and a legal settlement financed by almost $700,000 in federal-grant money.

In September, Gov. Rick Scott demanded the resignation of Workforce board members and executives. Since then, the agency has been run by a new board and Kevin Neal, an interim director on loan from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Nabors was chosen over Neal in May to become the new president and chief executive officer. Officials said Nabors, director of programs at a work-force agency in Connecticut, seemed better-suited as a community ambassador. Workforce Chairman Kevin Shaughnessy cited her time in Hartford and her involvement with the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals.

In Connecticut, Nabors came to an agency under scrutiny for failing to meet federal performance standards. Within three years, it exceeded those standards.

"She's a nationally regarded leader on work-force issues," Shaughnessy said. "I view her as a change agent who can restore the reputation of the agency."

Neal, however, isn't leaving. He will become the agency's chief operating officer.

Board Vice Chairman Thomas Katheder pushed for Neal's appointment, in part because of Neal's ties to DEO, which provides some oversight of the agency. Nabors interviewed Neal and offered him the job.

Both say they are happy with the arrangement.

"I'm very comfortable," Neal said. "I wouldn't have accepted the job if I wasn't."

Added Nabors, "I think we'll make an exceptional team."

Nabors began her career in Florida, working at Brevard Community College, running the school's job-training program. She then spent four years at the Brevard Workforce Development Board as director of planning.

In 1998, she headed to Hartford as the executive director of a local job-services agency. Three years later, she became director of program operations at Capital Workforce Partners.

She had been there ever since, overseeing a program that receives about $17 million in federal and state grants. At Workforce, her budget will be almost twice that.

Nabors said one her top priorities will be meeting with civic and business leaders in an effort to improve the agency's reputation and credibility. She faced similar challenges in Hartford, she said, and spent "a lot of time jumping in my car and going out to meet with stakeholders."

She is especially eager to connect with elected officials, who, historically, have had little contact with the agency.

"It's critical to have elected officials involved. They need to understand what the agency officers."

Nabors said the same is true for the public and business community. Many, she said, still think of work-force agencies as the unemployment office. But its purpose is to help people find work and improve job skills and help employers locate qualified candidates.

Nabors said the agency must serve both groups.

"I've always focused on the dual customer approach," she said. "You have to have jobs for people, but you also need skilled workers. They go hand in hand."

Nabors, who will be paid $147,500 a year, will be formally introduced at a news conference Wednesday.